


White House Press Secretary

by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Character Study
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2001-02-03
Updated: 2001-02-03
Packaged: 2019-05-15 19:10:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14796302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: Different people of the West Wing reflect on their lives so far.





	White House Press Secretary

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

 

RATING: G  
NOTES: New series. See Part One.  
DISCLAIMER: I do not own the West Wing or any of its related   
characters. Don't sue.   
SUMMARY: Different people of the West Wing reflect on their lives so   
far.

Danny seems to be in a strange mood today. Hell, everyone does.   
Sam has been kind of grumpy, Toby's locked up in his office, Josh   
isn't really speaking to anyone and the President just seems   
distracted. I haven't even seen Leo at all today. I suppose this is   
just one of those days where everyone is thinking about something   
else; everyone's thinking about their lives and the way things work   
out. We have those kind of days from time to time.  
Makes it hard to get any work done. It's frustrating that way.  
Every morning, I get up and get ready to go to work. When I look   
at myself in the mirror, half the time I don't know who it is that I   
see. Have I really gotten this far? It feels like only yesterday that   
I was walking in and there was my old friend Toby waiting for me.   
Then of course I had to fall into the pool, but that's an entirely   
different story.   
I don't have very good luck with pools. Makes me wonder why I got   
that house in the first place.  
Anyway, I'm here now. That has to count for something. In fact, I   
know that it does. Every day I stand up there in front of reporters   
and cameras and I tell the people what's going on in this great   
country of ours. The whole thing makes me feel kind of important.  
And then those four goons plus the President of the United States   
come along and suddenly I'm undermined and underestimated. Someone   
should point out to them that when I agreed to come and work for this   
team, I had the expectation that they were going to work with me as   
if I was a part of the team, because I am a member of this team, damn   
it. It took two years, but they're starting to come around. Hopefully   
it'll stick.   
I've recently begun to wonder about whether or not we're allowed   
to have personal lives in this office. I mean, we've all sacrificed   
so much for our jobs and for this country. Leo lost his wife, Sam   
can't date the woman he wants to, I can't date the man I want to, the   
President and Josh and Ron all took bullets as a consequence of this   
job. Where are we all now that we've become workaholics with no lives   
whatsoever? Where has all this hard work gotten us?  
I try to take things as I go. Life gets so complicated, I feel   
like planning for the future would just be a waste of time. When I   
was a kid, I planned for the future, but because I was so young, I   
was also very idealistic; none of the things I had planned then have   
come true and they show no signs of doing so. This job is certainly a   
large contrast from the plans I had made. Even after I graduated   
college, my career was PR and politics had never been a   
consideration. Granted, I still know very little about politics,   
especially compared to these guys, but I know more than I used to,   
and hell, I know more than I want to know in some cases.  
I have to feed my fish. After all, I just fed myself not too long   
ago, so it's probably fair to feed Gail too. Gail... Well, anyway,   
what was I thinking about? I don't like to stress out; or at least I   
didn't until I got this job and got used to it. It's a sad, sad thing   
that I get stressed out on a daily basis. It's incredibly sad. It's   
depressing, really.   
What do I have left to do today? I've already done Danny's   
exclusive and I finally finished reading that damn report on income   
tax fraud. Toby sent out an executive memo to the senior staff saying   
that he and Leo have gotten CREP going, but that they haven't   
mentioned it to the President yet. A wise move, I think. The last   
thing the President needs to think about is running for re-election;   
not until the State of the Union is good and done with anyway. He's   
got too much on his mind and there are health issues. He still gets   
little pains around the gunshot wound from time to time. I can see it   
in his eyes.  
The President and I have a connection that way.   
This new year has gotten off to an interesting start. I think I   
should start getting used to being given a run for my money. That's   
one thing that Ann Stark did do for us: she got our eyes open. It   
seems that one thing after another is opening ours. First it was   
Mandy's memo, then it was the shooting, and now Ann Stark comes in   
pushing her candidate. No one wants us to stand idly by and although   
it's frustrating to deal with the consequences, it's still a good   
thing to get a wake-up call every now and then.   
Still, I wish I could get a little more heads up than I've been   
getting for these damn wake-up calls.  
When I was growing up over there in California, my parents called   
me "outspoken". I was tall and skinny then too, and I didn't take   
nicely to being pushed around. I don't think I've changed a bit in   
that regard, but I think that the main thing that has changed since   
then is my amount of control over such situations. I honestly think   
that Leo and the others don't care when I get mad about being brushed   
off, merely annoyed. Toby seems to care, but I think that's because   
we're friends and he's known me longer than anyone else around here.   
I still think it's him and not Leo that wanted me on this team.  
Toby... Toby, Toby, Toby. What an odd fellow that guys is.   
I've known him for what seems like forever, and he's still as strange   
as ever. There was a period of time, when he had just gotten married   
to Andy, that he seemed happier. He used to be a happier person, but   
as he got older and as his marriage drew to an end, he became more   
somber, grouchier, and sadly more of an alcoholic. Sometimes I wonder   
if I shouldn't stage an intervention or something. There are times   
when he drinks excessively and other times when he doesn't touch a   
drop. It worries me though I do my best not to act like it. Maybe I   
should talk to Leo about it. He'd know, right?  
Maybe I should just stick to my own business and butt out.   
I think my mother is going to call me soon. I always get this   
weird feeling in my bones right before she calls. It's not like I   
don't like her; I just don't enjoy talking to her on the phone. The   
conversation starts out nice and friendly, and then slowly her voice   
changes and I'm suddenly suffering an onslaught of questions about my   
love life, about my job, about how Toby is doing (she loves him),   
how "that one guy" Danny is doing; is the President working you too   
hard? Is that Leo fellow being crabby? My mother and Leo don't get   
along. Something about when they met, he grunted at her or something,   
and she interpreted that to mean that he was a rude, grumpy old man.   
I think he was just busy thinking about, you know, the welfare of the   
country, but she'd hear none of that.  
I'm quite proud of my father for having put up with her for   
nearly forty-five years. They remind me of the parents from "Pride   
and Prejudice". The mother was this hyperactive, superficial   
worrywart who was trying to marry off her daughters to worthy men.   
The father was this kind, sarcastic, gentle man who was a good father   
to his children and made fun of his wife when she got too ridiculous.   
This is my parents to the T. I wonder if Jane Austen was a   
psychic and she saw my parents coming.   
Danny seems to be avoiding me these days. When I see him, he   
looks away; it's almost as if he's acting guilty about something.   
Ever since the night of the shooting, we've been drifting further and   
further apart. When he turned down the editor's job, I think that was   
the ultimate statement about the two of us. I'm not mad at him for   
turning down the job; I would never ask him to do something he didn't   
want to do. His job is obviously important to him, just like mine is   
to me. We're not going to change for each other, and that's the only   
way we could ever be together. Change.   
So that's that.  
I'm gonna go talk to Sam about the State of the Union. The press   
is already hounding me questions about it and the rough draft hasn't   
even been written yet, as far as I know. Besides, isn't there   
supposed to be an element of suspense to it? Heh. I love teasing   
reporters. Carol's leaning in my office door. My mother's on the   
phone. Here we go.

*************************

  


End file.
